NHL Rumors from the Blogosphere – the Labour Day Edition.

More speculation on a Habs-Jets deal, and of the Kings making a trade before re-signing Drew Doughty. Enjoy!

HOCKEYBUZZ.COM: “Eklund” follows up on an earlier post claiming the Canadiens were interested in acquiring Johnny Oduya from the Jets, adding the Jets are closing in on re-signing Zach Bogosian to a long-term deal…He confirms Kings blogger Matt Barry’s earlier claim that Rob Scuderi may be on the block, as part of his own earlier post claiming the Kings may try to make a trade before re-signing Drew Doughty, but suggested another player might be involved which could help the Kings more than he originally though. “Eklund” also addressed criticism of this deals from some “pundits” who noted the Kings have nearly $10 million in cap space and don’t need to dump salary to re-sign Doughty, claiming his sources said the move would be about “leverage”, though offering no details. Finally, he noted “4 of 6 sources” claimed a Kings trade would be somehow linked to a Jets-Habs deal.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Wonder who one of those “pundits” would be that brought up the Kings available cap space? 😉

Anyway, I’m wondering how such a move would translate into “leverage”? For what? For whom? Are they thinking of dealing for another defenseman? Given how talented Doughty is, I don’t think such a move would have anything to do with his re-signing. And how could any move the Kings make affect a Habs-Jets trade? For what purpose? Both those clubs play in the Eastern Conference, so such a move wouldn’t have any impact upon the Kings at all. And what player could be involved that would really help the Kings?

If, as Eklund previously claimed, they’re talking to Toronto, Buffalo and Carolina, and if Scuderi is the guy being shopped, what could they possibly hope to get from any of those teams which could help them? It’s not as though the Leafs are parting with forwards or defensemen, at least not at this time. The Sabres need to dump salary, are already pretty much set on defense, and wouldn’t have sufficient cap space to take on Scuderi’s $3.4 million per season salary. And the Hurricanes also appear set with their current defense corps, plus they’re operating on a tight budget this season, meaning Scuderi’s salary would blow that out of the water.

The title of Eklund’s post suggested one of these moves would be a domino that sets the others tumbling, but this appears more like a puzzle with key pieces missing.

14 Comments

A. Donnybrook
on September 4, 2011 at 10:07 pm

“The title of Eklund’s post suggested one of these moves would be a domino that sets the others tumbling, but this appears more like a puzzle with key pieces missing.”

I LOL’d…. Bravo Lyle. Bravo!

Shaun
on September 4, 2011 at 10:32 pm

Low hanging fruit. Eklund and others know that Jets fans just wanna see a great team and Habs fans just want to be quit of Gomez … easy rumour fodder.

Grizzledbear
on September 4, 2011 at 10:52 pm

Eklund does this same thing with Preds fans, getting the one’s that take him seriously to think some trade is in the works (i.e. getting them to click on his website) when the rest of us know nothing is going on. Hopefully they’ll all learn someday.

Habsfan1
on September 5, 2011 at 12:32 am

Exactly Grizzeledbear. That ‘domino trade’ bit and the ‘more later’ or ‘a team in the east/west’ bit is just there to get fans salavating and make up their own wild theories…which they post…then click again to check the responses….then respond and so on just so Eklund can put his kids through school, or whatever…

SmielmaN
on September 5, 2011 at 1:03 am

I love how the rumor mills are back up producing conversation pieces. =) I would have to think that any deal involving the Canadiens includes Spacek and Kostitsyn. Gomez is probably immovable until after this season when his actual paid salary drops by 2 million. I honestly can’t wrap my head around what the LA Kings are doing by putting Doughty through this. OK, they want him to sign his prime away to them but he wants 5 years so he can keep his options open. Who can blame Doughty??? He’s a human being who might have personal aspirations that extend beyond Los Angeles California. Geez… Give the guy what you want to pay at his term and he will probably respect the team for it. Right now, all he is doing is fighting with management, has no contract, and has his names in the media non-stop. I just can’t understand it. Bad player management of your best Defenceman at a time when they are about to ice the best team they have had in 15 years. Stupid, just stupid.

Grizzledbear
on September 5, 2011 at 1:04 am

Very true, Habsfan1. But if you want to send AK46 the Preds way, we’ll take it! 😉

I can see it now on Eklund’s blog “a source deep within the Preds organization (me) has suggested a Habs/Preds trade involving AK46 is nearly complete…..e4”. 😀

bnucks1
on September 5, 2011 at 3:12 pm

Ha ha ha, Grizzledbear, that’s awesome!!!

Gseven7
on September 5, 2011 at 3:33 pm

Eklund is ridiculous, he is like one of those horoscope people, saying a trade may go down this weekend. Ok wow, anyone could have written that! He always gives the most vague “rumors” which pretty much never happen and even if something does happen he never nails it right on the head he just says see i told you a trade was going to happen. This guy is a joke i’m sorry.

Bickleton Wigglesworth III
on September 5, 2011 at 6:19 pm

I don’t see how trading Scuderi would help the Kings at all. He is the right player for that need. They need a smart solid stay at home guy with Cup experience to play alongside Doughty or Johnson and that’s exactly what they have. Yes they have a deep pool along the blueline but no one else really filling that need. And what would they get for Scuderi that they need more than Scuderi? He’s not going to get them the 40-goal winger they need, which is about they’re missing right now. Maybe they could use a real bruising top pair defensemen like Pronger (along with 29 other clubs) but that’s not going to happen either. No the Kings will stick with what they, evaluate needs, and what’s available and then make the needed moves between Thanksgiving and the trade-deadline.

@ SmielmaN, it’s two way street. You make it out that it’s the Kings management that’s being unreasonable and created Doughty’s contract difficulty. By all accounts Lombardi has presented several quality offers to super-agent Meehan and gotten nothing back. Additionally, while there hasn’t been a lot of movement on a deal there really hasn’t been any bad blood either. Neither side has attacked or even made disparaging remarks about the other. It’s just business and it will get worked out.

JDBGiGC
on September 6, 2011 at 1:52 am

@ Bickleton

I completely agree. Where to people keep coming up with the idea that Doughty is being treated badly. The only reason this is going on is precisely BECAUSE the Kings value Doughty so much.

If this were a defenseman of lesser value to the Kings, they likely would just sign him and not worry about five years from now. The Kings clearly want him Doughty to be their franchise player and they want to get him locked up long term.

Lombardi is like a skilled chess player. He’s thinking several moves ahead. He knows he needs to get Doughty locked up long term to the right contract. At this point, I’m really not worried.

Illmatic
on September 6, 2011 at 3:15 am

I think it’s well known by anyone who knows anything about hockey that ‘Eklund’ knows absolutely nothing about the game. I believe that his site should taken for what it is, fun speculation to keep fans engaged in the game. I think Mr. Spector your way too critical of him, and while I respect you as a accredited and smart hockey writer I do challenge that your ‘rumors’ are usually just commentary on other people’s sourced rumors. Maybe you should put some more of your own sourced rumors out there before ripping into the guy. I think Eklund’s site is purely for fun for the fans(something hockey can always use) and I think someone as smart and connected to the game as you should take it for what it is……

Lyle Richardson
on September 6, 2011 at 9:27 am

As I’ve stated previously, sometimes Eklund’s rumors eventually make their way into the MSM, where I’d only end up commenting on them anyway, so this avoids the rush. Second, not a week goes by without me getting e-mails from readers telling me about one of his rumors and asking my opinion, so it only makes sense to me to do so here. Third, a number of hockey fans enjoy reading his rumors, and based on the majority of responses I’ve received since I turned to also commenting upon blogosphere-generate speculation, they also enjoy my comments on that speculation.

As I’ve noted several times, if you don’t put any truck in blogosphere-generated rumors, don’t read them. That’s why I’ve divided rumors from the blogosphere from those reported by the MSM, so that folks can have the choice of reading which ones they want to read.

Thanks for your feedback, have a great day!

Canadian King
on September 6, 2011 at 5:21 am

SmielmaN….If you don’t know the situation I suggest you keep your mouth shut. As stated earlier Lombardi has made contract offers to the Doughty camp with no contracts being signed. This is what Don Meahan does, take a look at some of his other clients who are also “holding out”, it is no coincidence. Also on the other side it is not Doughty being unreasonable and greedy it is his agent doing what he does best, being a weasel that threatens GM’s with the possibility of a holdout cause as an RFA they have no other leverage. DD will be signed and LA will be a cup contender.

Stumpy
on September 6, 2011 at 10:51 pm

“Eklund” never lets the facts get in the way of his rumors. It seems like he throws certain teams into his rumors to feed the fans. I don’t read that site on a regular basis anymore but it typically was the Canadian teams, Philly, and Buffalo. I’m no fan of his site, but I don’t think he is much worse that some of the “legit” writers from Toronto, Ottawa, and NYC.

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